What Remains of Us
by shadowmaid20
Summary: Jamie has been at her father's side, Joel for twenty years since the death of her sister, Sarah, fighting against infected. Now that her and her father have to smuggle Ellie they realize their adventures are just beginning as the travel across the country to deliver the cure for mankind to the Fireflies, will Jamie be able to make her dad proud and become a strong survivor? Or not?
1. Chapter 1

I do not own The Last of Us, it's contents or it's characters. I only own Jamie.

Chapter 1. The Breakout

Jamie was sitting on the couch with her older sister Sarah waiting for their dad, Joel, to come home from work. Sarah had fallen asleep at eleven-thirty on her younger sister's lap from the long wait. Just as Jamie was about to nod off she saw Joel walk through the door arguing with her uncle, Tommy, over the phone.

"Tommy, I-...Tommy. Tommy, listen to me. He's the contractor, okay? I can't lose this job. I understand... Let's talk about this in the morning, okay? We'll talk about it in the morning. Alright, goodnight." Joel hung up and turned on the light causing Sarah to wake up and Jamie to yawn.

Jamie smiled at her dad. "Hey, daddy."

Joel approached the couch. "Scoot."

"Hey." Sarah chimed in. "Fun day at work, huh?"

"What are you two still doing up? It's late." Joel tiredly pointed out.

Sarah looked up at the clock. "Oh, crud. What time is it?"

"It is way past both of your bedtimes."

"But it's still today, huh, big sis? Should we show him?"

Sarah nodded as she went to the side of the couch and pulled out a small gift box and handed it to Joel. Joel gave them both a look letting them know he wasn't in the mood.

"Sarah, honey, please not right now. I do not have the energy for this." he sighed.

"Just open it, Dad." Jamie demanded. "I think you'll like it."

"What's this?"

"Your birthday."

Joel opened the small box to fin a new watch sitting inside of it. He pulled it out and clamped it around his wrist.

"You kept complaining about your broken watch. . . So me and Jamie figured, you know. You like it?"

"Guys, this is. . ."

"What, Daddy?" Jamie asked.

Joel tapped the watch. "It's nice but I- . . .I think it's stuck. It's not. . ."

"What? No, no, no, no." Sarah cried out as she looked at the watch only to find out Joel was kidding. "Oh, ha, ha."

Joel grabbed the remote and placed his arm around Jamie while Sarah laid back down on the couch. Joel turned on the TV as he wondered how his daughter could afford such a watch.

"Where did you two get the money for this?"

"Drugs. We sell hardcore drugs." Jamie giggled.

Joel chuckled. "Oh, good. The both of you can start helping out with the mortgage then."

Sarah scoffed. "Yeah, you wish."

After a while both Jamie and Sarah had fallen asleep again on the couch. JOel smiled down at them as he turned off the TV. He nudged Sarah's shoulder to wake her up.

"C'mon, honey. Let's get you to bed." He picked up Jamie in his arms. " I've got you, baby." Sarah leans against him for support as he takes them upstairs to their room. He tucked them both in and shut off the lamp.

"Goodnight, baby girls." He softly said as he walked out of the room.

Leter that night Sarah was having the best sleep she ever had in her life. That is until the phone rang loudly. She answered the second time it rang and it was her uncle, Tommy, who seemed to be calling.

"Sarah, honey, I need you to get your daddy on the phone."

Sarah yawned. "Uncle Tommy, what time is it?"

"I need to talk to your dad now! There's some-" The phone line went dead leaving Sarah to hang the phone up. She made her way to her six year-old sister's bed. "Jamie! Jay, wake up!"

"Leave me alone! Let me sleep." Jamie whined.

"Jamie, we got to find Dad. I think something's wrong. Come on, get up."

Jamie groaned. "Fine."

Both sibling searched the top floor of the house for their father. They called for Joel but received no answer. Sarah led the way into Joel's room but was surprised to see he wasn't there.

"Where the heck are you?" Sarah asked.

Jamie pointed to the TV. " Sarah. Let's see what they say on the news channel."

Jamie stood next to her sister watching the news reporters and listening to what tragic event was taking place. There appeared to be an infection that was breaking out nationwide and the people who were infected with it seem to be acting aggressive and show signs of them able to spread the infection just by sharing contact with another human being. An

An explosion was heard not far from where Sarah and Jamie lived. The sister's grew frightened after witnessing the explosion from their father's window.

"Sarah, I'm scared. I want Daddy."

Sarah held her little sister's hand. "It's okay, sissy. We'll find him." She said as they both left Joel's room. "Dad?! What is goin' on?"

As soon as Sarah and Jamie reached the first floor, they heard his cell phone vibrating loudly. It looked like Tommy had tried calling Joel eight times and left him three messages with one of them saying Tommy was on his way over to the house. Joel burst into the house and shut the door behind him quickly as soon as his daughter had reached the den.

"There you are." Sarah sighed in relief.

"Sarah. Are you two okay?"

"Yeah."

"Has anybody come in here?"

"No. Who would come in here?"

Joel pulled his gun from a drawer. "Don't go near the doors. Just stand back there."

Jamie was trembling in fear. "Daddy, what's wrong? You're kinda freaking us out. What's going on?"

Before Joel could answer his youngest daughter an infected human, his friend Jimmy, banged into the sliding door scaring the three of them. Joel stood in front of his daughters as Jimmy breaks his way into the room, snarling.

"Jimmy, just stay back." Joel warned as Jimmy responded with a snarl. "Jimmy, I am warning you. Don't!" Without hesitating, Joel shoots Jimmy, right after Jimmy tried to attack. He took Sarah and Jamie away from the den.

"Dad, you shot him." Sarah said, still in shock from what had happened.

Jamie grabbed Joel's hand. "Daddy, why did you do that?

"Both of you listen to me, there is something bad going on. We've gotta get out of here. Do you understand me?"

Both girls nodded as they saw headlights flash through the curtains which meant Tommy had arrived to pick them up. Joel picked up Jamie and grabbed Sarah's hand, leading them to Tommy's car.

"Where the hell have you been?" Tommy asked his older brother. "You have any idea what's going on out there?"

"I got some notion." Joel answered as put Jamie in the car. "C'mon, baby. Get on in there."

Sarah helped her little sister buckle up as they began to drive off to leave the city. Tommy explained to Joel about the situation that was taking place in the city and other places. Apparently, the rumored parasite had caused half of the people to lose their minds and turn them into extremely aggressive living organisms.

"Jesus Christ, how did this happen?" Joel asked Tommy.

"They got no clue. But we ain't the only town. At first they were saying it was just the South. Now they're going on about the East Coast, the West Coast...Holy hell."

"Are we sick?" Sarah asked.

Joel answered, "No. No, of course not."

"How do you know?"

Jamie decided to speak out. "I heard that it was just people in the city who were getting sick. Right, Uncle Tommy?"

"Yeah, honey. We're good."

"Didn't Jimmy work in the city?" Sarah asked.

Joel sighed. "That's right, he did."

The small family continued to drive. They did meet a family on their way to the city. Tommy wanted to pick them up but Joel argued with him that he didn't want to risk his daughters to get infected or anything. After a while they reach the city, only to find a traffic jam on the highway. As soon as Tommy stops the car a man jumps out of his car complaining about the traffic when an infected person jumps out of nowhere and kills him.

"Turn us around." Joel says to his brother as the infected person charges towards them. "Tommy. Tommy!"

The infected ran into the window next to Jamie. "Daddy, it's a monster!" she cried out when they turned to get away.

"You're okay, Jamie. It's gone." Joel said to his frightened daughter.

They turned into a different road but had a hard time trying to get through the massive amount of people who were running for their lives. They waited for the crowd to subside then continue to drive around a busted up motorhome. Sarah is the first to see a runaway car coming towards her uncle's car at high speed.

She hurries to unbuckle Jamie. "Look out!" She cries as she embraces her little sister waiting for the impact of the car crash. Soon, they all blacked out.

Joel's POV

I hear Sarah calling me, begging me to wake up and my Jamie crying her little eyes out. Finally, I came to and was back to reality. The car was on it's side when I woke up and the only way out was to break the front window.

"Daddy? Hey." I felt Sarah shaking my shoulder. "Hey."

I had my conscious back now. "What? Get back, baby. Get back." I grab Jamie's little hand. "Look. Daddy's okay."

She wiped the tears away from her face while I kicked the window hoping it would break. It took a few good, hard kicks to break the damn thing down. I had Jamie crawl through first.

"Daddy, I think Sarah's hurt." Jamie cried out.

Sarah called out for me. "Dad?"

"I'm right here, baby. I'm here. Give me your hand." I turn to look for Tommy but instead an infected tries to attack me. Fortunetly, little brother came to the rescue by delivering a bullet to it's head. After the rescue I check on Sarah and , sure enough, my daughter had broken a leg.

"We're gonna need to run." Tommy suggested.

I pick up Sarah in my arms and glance at Jamie. "Jay, Daddy's gonna need you to run fast. Can you do that for me? Do you think you can keep up?"

"Yeah." she nodded.

I pull my pistol out. "Okay. Just stay on my heels, honey. "I said as I hand my pistol to Tommy. "You keep us safe."

We ran as fast as we could to try and get to safety. It was hard to do because wherever you ran there was either an explosion or an infected person to stop you in your tracks. My Sarah did her best to keep her eyes on me and not pay attention to what was going on around us while my Jamie did her best to stay close to me and keep up. People were on fire and every exit was blocked when every individual tried to escape the massive amount of infected that were headed in our direction.

"Get back! There's too many of them! Through the alley! Go!" Tommy instructed. I did so and, luckily we got past the infected that were trying to get through the fence. We managed to find a way to get away from them temporarily. We rushed into the back of a local bar hoping to escape the mob of infected that were following us. Tommy tried to close the door but he could barely keep the creatures away.

"Get to the highway!" Tommy demanded, struggling to keep the door closed.

I stood there, confused. "What?"

"Go - you got Sarah and Jamie! I can outrun them!"

"Uncle Tommy!" Sarah cried out.

"Alright. I will meet you there."

Jamie glance at Tommy. "Be careful, Uncle Tommy."

I held on tighter to Sarah as Jamie and I ran to escape the bar. Sarah was concerned about my little brother but I assured her he was going to be all right. We were getting close to the highway bridge when I heard infected chasing after us. I swore this was going to be the end but then the infected were shot down by a soldier.

I look at Sarah. "It's okay, baby. We're safe." I felt Jamie hug my leg and I smile down at her to cheer her up. "Hey!" I shouted to the soldier. "We need help."

"Stop!" the soldier commanded.

"Please, it's my daughter. I think her leg's broken."

Stop right there." he commanded again raising his gun after I took one step.

"Okay...we're not sick."

The guy picked up his radio to report what was going on and waited to see what actions needed to be taken at that moment."

"Daddy, what about Uncle Tommy?" Sarah asked, full of concern.

"We're gonna get you to safety and go back for him. Okay?" I told her as I looked down at Jamie. "How are you doing, baby girl?"

Jamie hugged me tighter. "I'm tired and I'm scared."

"It'll be over soon, okay?"

The soldier received his orders. "Sir, there are two little girls." There was a short pause. "But... Yes, sir."

I knew what was coming. "Listen, buddy, we've just been through hell. Okay, we just need-" I saw his finger on the trigger. "Oh, shit. Jamie, duck!"

Jamie did as I told her rolling down the hill as the soldier fired at Sarah and myself, causing me to fall down the hill, dropping Sarah in the process. The bastard followed me and put his hand on the trigger again. I begged him not to shoot and to let me go. Suddenly, Tommy showed up out of nowhere and shot down the uniform before the man could kill me.

"Daddy...Sarah." I heard Jamie sobbing.

Tommy went into shock. "Oh, no."

I got up and saw what it was that had my brother and daughter so scared and heartbroken. There on the ground was my Sarah, crying from the pain she felt from the bullet that had been shot into her side.

"Sarah! Move your hands, baby." I tried to stop the bleeding by pressing on the wound, which only made her cry harder. "Listen to me, I know this hurts, baby. You're gonna be okay, baby. Stay with me."

I continued to try and help her but then I heard nothing but silence. I looked to see my daughter's face express that she was gone. I shook my head and embraced her closely to me, not wanting to let her go.

"Sarah... Baby... Don't do this to me, baby." I gasped through tears. "Please. Oh, God. Please, please, don't do this."

That moment had changed my life forever. My oldest baby was gone. No, not gone but taken away from me. I prayed to God she could rest in peace and to help me take care of my Jamie, who had first witnessed the death of someone she love. I promised she would be the only thing I would fight for and protect her from the godforsaken curse that had intruded into our lives.


	2. Chapter 2

_I would like to thank BlueSky509 for a great review and I promise to keep uploading more chapters. A little reminder I do not own The Last of Us or it's characters or anything like that. I only own Jamie. A little note, Jamie is now twenty-five years old soon-to-be twenty-six and continues to live with Joel. Here's the new chapter and I hope you enjoy it. Please review._

Chapter 2: Where Are The Guns?

Jamie's POV

I woke up from a deep sleep to another day in the quarantine zone. I still find it hard to imagine that my dad and I had survived twenty years without being infected by the disease. I got up from bed and looked out the window. Sure enough, the ration line was being guarded by soldiers, which is something that didn't surprise me. Since the outbreak, the military has been involved in many things and the only people who seemed to be fighting back was an entire group organization called the Fireflies.

I stepped away from the window. "I better wake Dad up. I ain't like him to sleep when the military is out and shooting this early in the morning."

As soon as I was in the living room I found Dad sleeping on the couch. I couldn't elp but laugh. "Looks like you're getting close to that age every single day, doesn't it, Dad?"

"I ain't old, baby girl. I'm as fit as a fiddle and ripening with age." he chuckled as he sat up.

I helped him get up. "Sure, Dad. Whatever you say, old man."

Someone knocked on the door and I already guessed who it was. Tess. I guess I could say she's a friend of ours but really she is another rebel who Dad and I help smugge certain types of material and equipment to different places. In short, she's kind of like our boss.

The knocking continued. ""I'm coming!" Dad announced as he walked over to the door and answered. Tess walked in, of course, but I noticed that she had a slight bruise beginning to show on th side of her face.

"How was your morning?" She asked Dad as she poured herself a drink. "Do you want one?"

Dad shook his head in response. "No, I don't... want one."

"Hey, Jamie. How you doing, sweetheart?" Tess asked me.

I flashed a slight smile at her. "What's to say? I'm still growing as healthy as a young adult should be."

Tess laughed softly. "Well, I have some interesting news for you, Joel." she said as she put down her drink down, "Jamie, could you give us a minute?"

I looked at Dad and he gave me a slight nod with his head as if to tell me to go in the other room. I smiled and walked into Dad's room to get ready for whatever mission Tess was telling my dad about. Apparently, Dad was upset about Tess going to make drop without saying anything to him.

"So I'll take one guess." I heard Dad start. "The whole deal went south, and the client made off with our pills. Is that about right?"

I heard Tess scoff. "Deal went off without a hitch." I marched back to the living room and Tess pulled out some ration cards from her pocket. "Enough ration cards to last us a couple of months."

"Goddamn. With that many ration cards we wouldn't last a couple of months, " I smiled, "They would last us for a lifetime."

"Jamie." Dad stopped me before I could continue. "You want to explain this?" He pointed to the bruise on Tess' right side of her face.

"Yeah. It looks like someone had tried to destroy your face with a bat or something. And let me just say, Tess, you really should have consulted my dad and I. If you had us then whoever did this to you would never bother you again." I said, examining the bruise.

Dad took a rag and cleaned it. "Are these assholes still with us?"

"What matters is that Robert sent them."

"Our Robert?"

Tess went on about this Robert character, saying he knew that we were gonna come after him. I soon as Dad and I got the details of Robert's whereabouts we organized a way to find him and take him down for selling our merchandise. Once everything was set up we headed out to search the man. We had run into packs of infected and Robert's thugs on the way, almost getting ourselves killed in the middle of the process. Somehow we had managed to get out of all the situations alive.

"Jamie, when we get to the shipping yard I need you to stay put."

I glared at him. "What? Dad, I'm twenty-five years old. I can protect myself."

Dad stopped in his tracks and faced me. "I said no. Just do as I say."

"Okay, fine. I guess I'll just miss out on the action then."

"That's enough."

We made our way to a strange-looking garage and I checked the area for any guards that looked like they could be enemies. Dad and Tess, of course, ordered me to stay behind and let them do all the work.

"Why is it that you guys don't trust me to help you with anything?" I asked them angrily.

Dad looked me in the eye. "Jamie, I don't want to hear it. Just stay here and do as I say when I say it."

I turned my back on him and sat down behind a shipping crate and watched them both silently sneak up behind the guards and take them out without making so much as a sound. I couldn't help but feel pissed off and useless. Gunshots were heard and I couldn't help but wonder how my father and Tess were doing. Finally, the sounds of guns went silent and I peeked to make sure somebody who wanted to eliminate me wasn't around.

"Jamie!" I heard my father call out followed by a whistle. "Over here!" I saw them on standing next to the garage door.

Still angry, I made my way to them but I didn't make any eye contact with either one.

Tess was the first to speak. "You're doing a good job, Jamie. I don't think I've met someone your age who could keep back during a gun fight like that."

"Whatever." I mumbled. "Let's just get this shit over with."

Dad grabbed my arm. "Ja-" I cut him off by pulling my arm away from his grasp and marched out of the garage and hid behind steel shipping box inside the wharf. I peeked over and I instantly and undeniably spotted Robert heading back to his hiding place while his "bodyguards" maintained their posts outside.

"There's our boy. That cocky son of a bitch." Tess stated quietly.

"Let's go finish this." Dad said as he turned his attention to me. "And you st-"  
"Stay here. I got it, Dad." I snapped, angrily. "That's all I'm fucking good for anyway."

He just rolled his eyes at me as he and his partner went to go dispatch Robert's lackeys. This time I didn't want to be left out so I silently followed the both, trying no to let them know I was there. I took the opportunity to slip past them and slowly creep up behind on of the guards. I pulled out my pocket knife and quickly jumped on the guys' back and stuck my blade through his throat. Bad move to make because I didn't think about the other guards who were standing close by.

"Oh, shit." I shouted out as the bullets started to fly and I felt someone put me into a sleeper hold and tried to suffocate me. Before I could faint into the darkness I was instantly dropped to the ground as the darkness consumed me.

Joel's POV

I picked up my unconsious daughter from the ground and tried to bring her back. I was so desparate I had no idea what I was doing.

"Jamie. Jamie, come on, wake up. Please, baby. Jamilynn!" I called out, hoping she would regain consiousness.

Tess kneeled down next to me. "Joel, here's something you haven't tried, yet." she told me as she raised her hand and delivered a slight slap to Jamie's face.

Jamie immediatley woke up. "What the fuck?! That was seriously, indeniably and unnecessarily painful! If you guy call that a wake up method then you both must be sick in the fucking head!"

I pulled her to her feet . "Are you feeling okay?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah. I'm fine. I think I'll be okay."

"Good. Because that was a very stupid thing to do. I swear to God, I wonder what kind of shit is going on in that head of yours that would drive you to pull shit like that."

"That shit would have to do with the fact that my father thinks I'm an incapable disappointment." Jamie walked away from me before I could say anything.

Tess looked up at me. "Don't you think that was a bit harsh? Sure, she pulled a stupid stunt but she did manage to handle herself with that bum. You got to give her a bit of credit for that."

I glared at her. "Don't even try to encourage her with that." I demanded as I followed my daughter.

Jamie's POV

I leaned back against the wall of the wharf, trying not to let tears escape from my eyes. Tess, Dad and I proceeded inside as we were getting ready to let the curtain fall for our mission. The door to Robert's hideout opened up widely and, no surprise, Robert tried to kill us with his gun.

"Get the fuck back!" Robert yelled out, trying to sound brave but I could easily tell he was afraid of the three of us.

Tess took cover. "We just wanna talk, Robert."

"We ain't got fucking nothin' to talk about!"

"Put your gun down." Tess tried negotiating, only to be shot at in response.

I heard his gun click, meaning he ran out of bullets. "Go fuck yourselves!"

"He's running Tess cried as we came out of our hiding place and ran after him. At that moment I wanted to prove to my Dad that I could be useful. I picked up the pace to catch up to Robert and ran past Tess and my father.

"Jamilynn!" I heard Dad call out from behind but I refused to look back at him.

I reached the window Robert jumped out of and there he was trying to make his escape through a fence that wouldn't open up. I took the opportunity to pull my magnum out from my gun holster as I heard Tess and Dad getting close.

"Don't fucking move." I said, pointing right at the back of his head just as my elders caught up to me. Dad saw the way I was keeping Robert from escaping and flashed a smile, which meant he was a bit amused.

"Hello, Robert." Tess greeted as she grabbed my wrist. "Put it down, kid."

I slowly put my gun down. "Took you guys long enough."

Robert turned and face all three of us. "Tess. Joel. No hard feelings, right?"

"None at all." Tess answered, slowly reaching for a large pipe. Once again, Robert tried to escape but I quickly pulled out my gun and shot at a the ground in front of him to stop him as Tess slammed the pipe into his kneecap and said, "We missed you."

"Look , whatever it is you heard, it ain't true, okay? I just want to say-"

Tess interrupted him. "The guns. You wanna tell us where the guns are?"

"Yeah, sure, but...it's complicate. Alright? Look, alright, just hear me out on this. I gotta-"

Dad kicked Robert directly in the face and grabbed his arm and held in a way that meant he was going to break it. Tess continued to ask about our weapons only to find out one thing...the stupid asshole had made a profit by selling all our weapons. Robert begged us to give him some time to try and get them back but the only thing we gave him was a broken arm. Tess continued to ask him about the guns.

"It's the Fireflies. I owed the Fireflies." Robert simply stated.

"What?" Tess, Dad and I all said in unison.

"Look, they're basically all dead. We can just-Just go in there, finish 'em off. We get the guns. What do you say? Let's go get 'em." Robert naiively suggested.

Tess shook her head. "That is a stupid idea." She delivered a couple of shots into Robert's head. I looked away as the blood started to drain from his head. Dad approached me and I thought he was going to give me another lecture about what I had done.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I should have listened to you. I'm so sorry I disappointed you." I said, my voice shaking a little bit as I wiped the tears from my eyes. But instead of lecturing me he just smiled at me and opened his arms, approached me and embraced me.

He stroked my hair. "You ain't a disappointment, Jamie. Do realize what you just did?"I shook my head. "You just showed me how brave and smart you are by using a gun to keep Robert from escaping without putting a bullet through his head. You just proved to me that you do not need to kill to win a fight and survive. And don't think I ain't proud of you because I am, baby girl."

He hugged me tighter as he turned his attention to Tess. "Well, now what?"

"Yeah, what do we do now, Tess?"

"We got get our merchandise back." Tess decided right on the spot.

Dad exhaled sharply. "How?"

"I don't know. We explain it to them." Tess said before saying, "Let's go find a Firefly."

"You won't have to look very far." A voice announced, making me step away from my father and pull out my gun.

"Come on out, unless you want me to put a bucket full of lead in your body." I demanded as I took the safety off. A woman I had seen on wanted posters emerged from the shadow, but I noticed she was slightly wounded.

"Who are you?" I asked, not wanting to put my gun down until she answered.

"There you go: Queen Firefly." Dad announced. "Put your gun down, baby."

The woman, Marlene, approached us slowly. "Why are you here? And why are you two letting a young girl tag along?"

"I am not any of your concern and I am almost twenty-six." I pointed out as I did as Dad said.

"Again, why are you here?" Marlene asked as she shared eye contact with Tess.

"Business." Tess answered. "You aren't looking so hot."

Marlene glanced at her wound. "Where's Robert?"

Tess and I exchanged smirks as we stepped away from Robert's dead corpse. All Queen Firefly could do was shake her head and I get the feeling she must have wanted Robert alive.

"Marlene, was it?"I asked, arms crossed. "We've got an extremely personal matter we have to discuss with you about."

"Those guns he gave you, they weren't his to sell. I want them back."

"Doesn't work like that, Tess."

"The hell it doesn't."

"Tess, please." I said. "Marlene, you dont understand. We really need them back. Otherwise, without them, we would be defenseless."  
Marlene just shot me a look. "I paid for those guns. You want 'em back? You're gonna have to earn 'em."

"How do we know you got 'em? Way I hear it, the military been wiping you guys out." Dad said, a slight bit of doubt in his voice.

Marlene finally gave in and decided to show us where the guns were but we had to do it on one condition to earn them back. And let me just say that nothing drives me to insanity than someone having a catch for us to get some important merchandise back.

"I need something smuggled out of the city." Marlene explained. "You do that... I'll give you your guns and then some."

Guards could be heard from where all four of us were standing. We all decided we would rather see the guns instead if being shot at by them at the hands of the military. We were about to go from rebels to smugglers.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Ellie

Marlene was leading us to God knows where to show us what needed to be smuggled out of the city. And, of course, what would an adventure be if there wasn't any soldiers blocking our path. All in total it looked like there were six of them in the area.

"You picked the wrong day to fuck with us." I heard one of them say as they carried on with their conversations.

Marlene glanced at my father. "I'll get this guy. You get the other one."

Dad nodded. "Jamie, I need you to-"

"I know, Dad. Stay here."

He smiled at me. "No. Cover me."

I beamed at him as I quietly followed him. I looked around and found a brick laying right next to me. While the two guards were completely unaware of our presence, I tossed the brick in one direction behind our target and the imbecile actually went to look for the source of the sound. Dad hopped over our hiding place and snuck up behind the guard and deliverd a shiv through his neck.

He signaled me to some on out just as soon as I saw Marlene take out the first guard. One of the other soldiers had spotted us which made all the other recruits start shooting as well.

I pulled out my gun. "I never lied men in a unform." I shouted out as I started to fire.

I heard Dad chuckle just as I turned to shoot another guard only to feel a bullet graze my cheek, which instantly made me even more mad. I angrliy kept shooting and finally killed my opponent by delivering a bullet through his eyes.

"Jamilynn. Are you all right?" my father cried out.

"Yeah. I'm feeling fine." I lied as the scratch from the bullet started to hurt.

Dad made me look up at him. "Jamie. What the hell is on your face?"

"It's nothing."

"The hell it ain't nothing. It hurts, doesn't it?"

The pain increased when he asked. "It feels like it's burning more than hurting." I said as I tried to ignore the pain. "It's just a scratch."

My father didn't want to continue arguing with me about the scar on my face as he disinfected it with a towel soaked in a bit of alcohol and put a small bandage on it. After being tended to my father, Tess and I continued to follow Marlene to her hiding location. An explosion interrupted the silence and we could see where it was coming from as we climbed on top of a roof.

"Is that some of your guys?" Tess asked.

Marlene sighed slowly. "What's left of them. Why do you think I'm turning to you guys?" She walked on. "This way."

We climbed through the window of an abandoned building. It seemed kind of peculiar that we were marching and fighting to get to who knows where to smuggle who knows what.

"Are feeling okay, Marlene?" I asked as I walked beside her.

"Yeah, how are you holding up?" Tess asked.

Marlene exhaled in response. "I'm running on fumes but I'll make it."

"How far is this place?" Dad asked and I could tell he just wanted to get all this over and done with.

Finally after a long walk we had entered theback room of a warehouse. As soon as Marlene and my father had opened a door to the warehouse Marlene's legs had given up on her and she stumble to the floor.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... Come on now, get up." Dad said as he gently grabbed her arm and helped her up.

"Get the fuck away from her!" a young teenage girl, almost my height, cried out as she pulled out a knife, charging right at my father. I launched myself right into her as I wrestled her to the ground and pinned her arms down.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Tess exclaimed as she took the knife from the girl's hand.

"Let her go." Marlene said as she clutched her wound.

Dad pulled me off. "Don't you ever pull a knife out at my father again." I growled through clenched teeth.

"Jamie. You're recruiting kind of young, aren't you?" Dad suggested immediatley.

"She's not one of mine." Marlene responded as she struggled to sit up.

The girl's mood went from defensive to fear. "Shit. What happened?" she asked the wounded Firefly leader.

"Don't worry. This is fixable." Queen Firefly said. "I got us help... but I can't come with you."

"Well, then I'm staying." The teenager simply said.

"Ellie, we won't get another shot at this."

I smiled as I shook my head. "She's the reason why we're all here? We went through all the trouble for her?"

"Hey-we're smuggling her?" Dad asked pointing at Ellie.

Marlene gave us all the information. We were to take Ellie to the Capitol building, which was a very long distance from where we resided. It all seemed like a bizarre journey and a great amount of trouble to transport someone, especially young teenager like Ellie, to the Capitol. Just before my dad and Tess could refuse, Marlene swore as soon as we got it all done we would have our weapons back and pay us double of what Robert had sold the guns for.

"Speaking of which, where are they?" Tess asked with a bit of tension in her voice.

"Back in our camp."

"We're not smuggling shot until I see them."

"You'll follow me. You can verify the weapons, I can get patched up." Marlene pointed at Ellie. "But she's not crossing to that part of town. I want Joel and Jamie to watch over her."

Dad and I immediately started to object. "I don't think that's the best idea." Dad spoke for both of us.

"How do you know them?" Ellie asked.

"I was close with his brother, Tommy." I stood still after hearing Uncle Tommy's name. "Said if I was ever in a jam I could rely on him."

"I'm sure he did say that." I scoffed. "What a joke."

"Was that before or after he left you militia group? Dad asked crossly.

Marlene glanced up at him. "He left you, too. He was a good man."

Tess gave us our orders to take Ellie up to our place for now until she had found the guns and wait for her there.

"She's just cargo, Joel." She stated to keep us from arguing.

"Marlene..." Ellie began.

"No more talking. You'll be fine. Now go with them." Marlene ordered.

Dad glanced at Tess. "Don't take long." He pointed at Ellie. "And you-stay close. Let's go, Jamie."

Dad, Ellie and I took off to get to the north tunnel, which was another path Dad and me took to get home to our apartment. We found the tunnel but since the steps to climb up there I helped my father pull a dumpter to use as a stepping stone to get the remaining stairs.

"This tunnel...you guys use it to smuggle things?" Ellie asked.

I chuckled softly. "Looks like she's going to start with twenty questions, Dad."

He smiled as he answered Ellie. "Yep."

"Like illegal things?"

"Sometimes."

I looked at her over my shoulder. "Anymore questions you feel you need to ask, kid? Or is this your way of making conversation?"

She shot me a look. "You ever smuggle a kid before?"

Dad shook his head. "No. That's a first. So what's the deal with you and Marlene, anyways?"

"Yeah. The way I saw you talk to her made it seem like she's more than just some guardian."

"I don't know. She's my friend, I guess."

"Your friend, huh? You're friends with the leader of the Fireflies. What are you, like twelve?" Dad asked.

Ellie sighed slowly. "She knew my mom, and she's been looking after me." She explained. "And I'm fourteen, not that that has anything to do with anything."

From what I had gathered about Ellie's information it sounded like her mother had died and left her best friend in charge of taking care of her daughter. And, apparently, it seemed like instead of staying in school Ellie had decided to run off and join the Fireflies as Dad put it.

"Look, I'm not supposed to tell you why you're both smuggling me, if that's what you're getting at."

I scoffed at her. "As if we need to know. This is just like any other day we go through."

"You wanna know the best thing about our job? We don't gotta know why." Dad pointed out. "Be honest with you we could give two shits about what you're up to."

"Well, great." Ellie answered cockly.

"Good." My father and I both replied at the same time.

I exhaled in relief as we finally reached the floor to our apartment. I took a moment to observe Ellie. There was something about her that made me feel uncomfortable and caused me to question why the Fireflies wanted her out of the city and taken to another location. I stopped as soon as Dad opened the door to the apartment.

"This is it." Dad announced as he headed into the living room. "Jamie, let's get some shut eye."

A yawn escaped from my mouth. "All right. I'm gonna need my energy and strength to help you and Tess out." I said as he wrapped his arm around me and we walked to the room.

"What are you guys doing?" Ellie asked out of curiousity.

"Killing time." Dad answered, exhausted from a day's work.

She looked around. "Well, what am I supposed to do?"

"I'm sure you will figure that out."

I took my old phone out of my pocket. "Here, Ellie. Sure it looks like nothing but it's got some old movies and a bunch of music on it. This should keep you busy."

She accepted as she took it from my hand. "Thanks, Jamie. And sorry about earlier with the knife thing."

I flashed a slight smile. "It's okay, kid. You had no way of knowing we were there to help."

She smiled back as she glanced at my father. "Your watch is broken."

My dad grunted in response as Ellie left the room and I laid beside my dad on the bed. He put one arm around me and held me close to him.

"Sleep, baby girl. I'm here. Sleep now." He told me softly as I rested my head against his chest and slowly fell to sleep.

After a few hours of sleep I woke up after I heard the sound of rain hitting the window. I looked outside and, as I expected, it was pitch black. Sitting on the recliner was Ellie, looking out the window as if something amazed her. Just as soon as I got up Dad woke up, too.

"You guys mumble in your sleep." Ellie said. "I hate bad dreams."

I rubbed my eyes. "That makes three of us." I claimed as Dad helped me up from the couch. "Did the phone help at all?"

She nodded. "It's got a lot of good music and it helped me from getting bored while you guys slept." She held it out to me. "Here you go."

I shook my head. "Just keep it. You'll need it more than I do."

"Thanks. You know, I've never been this close. To the outside." Ellie leaned closer to the window. "Look how dark it is. Can't be any worse out there. Can it?"

"Actually, it can. Once you step outside into that place you're gonna be surprised wherever you go."

Dad turned on the lamp. "What on earth do the Fireflies want with you?" He asked Ellie.

Just before Ellie could answer him Tess walked through the door with a look on her face that meant she was happy about something. My guess, she had found the merchandise we needed.

"Sorry it took so long. Soldiers fucking everywhere."

"How's Marlene?" Ellie asked with concern in her voice.

"She'll make it." Tess responded as she glanced up at Dad. "I saw the merchandise. It's a lot. Wanna do this?"

My father just nodded slowly in response. "Yeah."

"Let's go."

I loaded my gun. "Look out, world. You're about to be turned upside down."

"Don't you think it's a bit strange that they're asking us to do their smuggling?" Dad asked as he approached Tess.

Tess looked out the window. "Marlene wanted to do it herself. We weren't the first choice, or the second for that matter. She's lost a lot of men. Beggars can't be choosers."

"Yeah, let's just hope there's someone alive to pay us." Dad sighed as he helped Tess move my old bookshelf away from our secret passageway that lead us to the outside. Tess, Ellie and I stepped on the tiny elevator and waited for my father to start the generator. As soon as he did he pressed the button for us to go down.

"Been a while since me and my dad used this." I siad to Ellie as she looked around as we went down.

She smiled. "Really? How long exactly?"

"It's been almost five years exactly, kid."

"I'm surprised it's still had energy in it to operate this thing." She laughed softly as I smiled down at her.

Dad looked at Tess over his shoulder. "Who's waitin' for us at the drop-off?"

"She said there's some Fireflies that have traveled all the way from another city. Girl must be important." She looked down at Ellie. "What is the deal with you? You some bigwig's daughter or something?"

"Something like that." Ellie answered. "How long is this all gonna take?"

"If eveything goes as planned, we should get you to them in a few hours. Ellie, once we get there, I need you to follow our lead and stay close."

I leaned close to Ellie. "And by stay close she means to let the elderly handle everything while the young people stay back."

"I heard that, little lady." Tess called out as we climbed off the elevator and found the ladder we need to climb to the surface. "Joel, climb up and check if the coast if clear."

My father did as she ordered him to do so. And I counted the seconds that remained for us until the last second came for us to travel to the outskirts.


End file.
